Romanticism Portal (List View)

Whenever we see a painting or a sculpture we might think many different things; we might wonder why we like or dislike it; what is its meaning; and why the artist created it in that way. In this series we will explore different art periods, movements, and artists. We will discuss the context, symbolism, style, and what each of these periods/ movement/ artists tells us today. Some of the questions we will ask during these modules are: what is art? How is art different from arts and crafts? What is the purpose of art? Why are some art pieces famous? What are some of the most prominent styles? Why are some artists, such as Vincent Van Gogh, so popular today but not during their own time? How and why do we relate to different pieces in different ways and with different emotional responses? Each module stands on its own and no previous knowledge of Art History is required. The idea is to engage with the different topics from different lenses and to share different ideas and opinions about them. [show less]

The Secret History, the 1992 debut novel of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Donna Tartt, has its own secret history, including an origin story at an actual college campus and inspiration from a real-life missing person case. The celebrated novel opens with the murder of a Classics student by his eccentric and close-knit group of college friends. The tale then unfolds as an inverted mystery, a “whydunit” rather than a “whodunit,” a narrative that interrogates the nature of obsession, beauty, and education. Featuring ingredients of the campus novel, the coming-of-age story, and the New England Gothic, The Secret History has long been hailed as a modern classic, and now it’s been rediscovered by a new generation of readers who consider it a foundational text of Dark Academia storytelling. Why does this mystery have such staying power? How does it serve as a turning point in genre history? And how do its haunting themes relate to us and our search for knowledge today? In this module we will explore the fictional Hampden College and peel back the literary layers of The Secret History. Week 1 Lecture: The Secret History as Memory Discussion: Part 1 of The Secret History Week 2 Lecture: The Secret History as Mystery Discussion: Part 2 of The Secret History Week 3 Lecture: The Secret History as Tragedy Discussion: Part 3 of The Secret History Week 4 Lecture: The Secret History as Influence Discussion: Themes and Takeaways [show less]

One of the most relevant novels you could read right now was written almost two centuries ago. Mary Shelley’s The Last Man asks what it means to be human while living in unprecedented times. This 1826 classic of apocalyptic science fiction considers the implications of a global pandemic, a rapidly changing environment, and the failures of political and social institutions. Part imaginative autobiography, part science fictional warning, and part ecocritical thought experiment, The Last Man forces us to examine our assumptions about our present and future. In this module we will consider Mary Shelley’s novel in the context of her life, times, and intellectual history. We will also explore the afterlife of The Last Man in critical discussions of the ominously similar challenges we face in the 21st century. In the process, we will discuss the novel’s lasting meanings and contributions as pioneering work of speculative fiction. [show less]

This course will be offered for the first time this October 2023 (Anne’s favourite month) Within weeks of its 1908 publication, L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables became a bestseller. Over the years, this charming orphan story put Montgomery and her imaginative Prince Edward Island on a global map. Despite the fact that Anne of Green Gables is Canada’s bestselling novel throughout the world—or because of it—Montgomery was ignored by the literati and scholarship. Montgomery was a public intellectual, the first female Canadian fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and invested Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Still she was dismissed as “just” a children’s writer, a regionalist, or a woman. It was 25 years after Montgomery’s death before children’s literature and feminist scholars began to recover her work as worthy of study. While there is a robust field of Montgomery scholarship, there are areas where our focus is sometimes too narrow. One of these is the category of “realistic” fiction. While there is a kind of verisimilitude about everyday life in the late Victorian era in her work, the realism is pressed to the margins of definition as Montgomery romanticizes the worlds she creates. And can we disagree that there is something magical about Anne herself? By changing our way of approach and by looking at Anne of Green Gables as a fantasy novel, what can we unveil in this classic novel? Native Prince Edward Islander and Montgomery scholar Brenton Dickieson will lead students through a rereading of Anne of Green Gables using the lenses we use to study fantasy and speculative fiction with the goal of allowing one of the greatest living children’s books to live in new ways. [show less]

"Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!" Let’s sink our teeth into Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the novel that defined vampire literature. In misty Transylvania, Jonathan Harker is lured into the shadow-haunted castle of Count Dracula. Hungry for dominion over the living, the undead Dracula will stop at nothing to feed his craving for blood. As Dracula’s dark influence spreads to London, a desperate band of heroes must rally their courage and unravel ancient secrets to stand against the corruption that stalks the night. Narrated through letters, diaries, and telegrams, Dracula combines modern storytelling with ancient folklore, immersing the reader into a world of baleful desire and ageless bloodthirst. [show less]

Have you ever wanted to understand why a painting grabs your attention or what an artist might be trying to say? The Art of Seeing is a friendly module designed for anyone who feels they don't "know enough" about art. In this module, we'll explore key concepts in art that will provide a powerful toolkit to unlock the world of art. You'll learn how to "read" a painting by looking at color, line, and composition. We'll decode hidden symbols, explore different materials, and dive into fascinating genres from portraits to landscapes. You’ll have plenty of opportunity to look at many different artworks from different styles and time periods and engage with the works. Most importantly, you'll discover that the goal isn't to find the one "right" answer; it's to have your own personal and meaningful connection with art. This module is for everyone who wants to engage with art. No previous knowledge is required. The module is as follows: Session 1: What is Art? Session 2: The Artist's Toolkit: The Formal Elements Session 3: The "How": Materials, Techniques, and Meaning Session 4: Putting It All Together: “Reading” a Work of Art Session 5: Applying Your Toolkit: The Human Form Session 6: The World in a Frame: Landscapes & Still Lifes Session 7: Looking Beyond the Canvas Session 8: Your Journey as an Art Appreciator [show less]

The Gothic genre has inspired many creative minds to explore the darker realms of human psychology and the wider world, sparking fear, terror, horror and repulsion in its audience. J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth is as much a ruined Gothic wasteland as it is an idyllic utopia. From Shelob's cave and the hypnotic Mirkwood to the Paths of the Dead and the Barrow-Downs, this module will examine Tolkien's use of Dark Romantic and Gothic techniques that were used by writers such as Horace Walpole, Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, and E.T.A. Hoffman to strike terror in the heart of their readers. The module will follow an 8-lesson structure as follows: • Lecture 1: The Funk of Forty Thousand Years: A Literary History of the Gothic • Workshop 1: Chilly Echoes in Tolkien's Middle-earth • Lecture 2: Bottomless Supernatural: Terror, Horror, Abject • Workshop 2: Conjuring Creepy Creatures • Lecture 3: The Weird, the Eerie, and the Dark Side of the Mind • Workshop 3: Defamiliarising Middle-earth • Lecture 4: Ruined Landscapes • Workshop 4: What is left? Can the Gothic recover Middle-earth? Note: The hybrid 8-lesson structure above is the new format for this module moving forward. [show less]

J.R.R. Tolkien famously 'found' his legendarium, translating and editing The Red Book of Westmarch for his twentieth century readers. This is not the first time an author has 'forged' a 'lost' literary history as James Macpherson's 'Ossian' documents from the 1760s started a craze for forgeries. Thomas Chatterton's Rowley and Turgot manuscripts similarly fed off the Ossian controversy while questioning what it really meant to 'forge' a document. The module will follow an 8-lesson structure as follows: • Lecture 1: The 1760s, the Age of Forgery • Workshop 1: Which Red Book are we reading? • Lecture 2: The Growth of Romantic Nationalism • Workshop 2: The Book of Lost Tales: a mythology for which England? • Lecture 3: Oral Traditions: Immortality and Youth • Workshop 3: Vocalising Myth and History • Lecture 4: Textual Traditions: Mortal Anxiety and Tangible History • Workshop 4: Writing myth and history Note: The hybrid 8-lesson structure above is the new format for this module moving forward. [show less]

The imagination and dreams are essential parts of J.R.R. Tolkien's world building which he explored across many stories from 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'On Fairy-stories' to 'The Notion Club Papers'. The same can be said of the Romantics who saw an important connection between the two. In works such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' and 'Kubla Khan', Lord Byron's 'The Dream' and 'Darkness', and Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein', the imaginary and dream-like meet with awe-inspiring, melancholy or blood-chilling results. The module sessions are structured as follows: • Class 1: The Realms of (Childhood) Faery (60m) • Class 2: Faery’s Enchantment (60m) • Class 3: The Terror of the Night (60m) • Class 4: The Past is an Imagined Dreamworld (90m) • Class 5: Visions of the Apocalypse (60m) • Class 6: Senses and Sensation (60m) • Class 7: Glimpses, mere Fragments (90m) [show less]

J.R.R. Tolkien's revolutionary depictions of nature have inspired many to respect and cherish the environment. However, if we journeyed back two hundred years, we would discover that radical British Romantic authors were also challenging how readers perceived their surroundings! In this module, we will use ecology to explore the many parallels and contrasts between Tolkien's Arda and the Romantic's portrayals of nature big and small: mountains and meadows, woods and wildernesses, daffodils and dead marshes. This will include examining how characters react to the environment, nature's existence as separate from our own, and the broader concern of the Industrial Revolution's destructive potential. The module will follow an 8-lesson structure as follows: • Lecture 1: Visions of Nature • Workshop 1: What do your Elf-eyes see? • Lecture 2: All things Sublime and Beautiful • Workshop 2: Sublime, Beautiful, or both at once?! • Lecture 3: I want to see mountains! • Workshop 3: One with our environment • Lecture 4: Ecology without Humanity • Workshop 4: What is actually out there beyond the Human sphere? Note: The hybrid 8-lesson structure above is the new format for this module moving forward. [show less]